Current brake lining grinder apparatus for finishing arcuately shaped brake linings has separate grinders for finishing side surfaces, an outer arcuate wear surface conformable to a brake drum and an inner arcuate mounting surface adapted to conform to the outer arcuate surface of a brake shoe. The equipment uses the wear surface of the brake lining to establish a reference surface for guiding the brake lining with respect to a grinder for shaping the inside surface thereof to accurately conform to the arcuate shape of a brake shoe to which the brake lining is attached.
Such apparatus requires the outer arcuate surface of the blank to be preformed to have an even smooth surface such that the finished inside radius of the brake lining will accurately conform to the brake shoe.
The problem with such apparatus is that the lining blank must be prefinished before it is directed through the grinder for conforming the lining blank to a shape for mounted on a brake shoe. Additionally, the existing apparatus require separate finishing of the side surfaces of the brake linings. An additional unexpected problem arises if the outer arcuate surface of a brake lining is prefinished. Such prefinishing can obliterate brake part identification markings of the material supplier making it difficult to trace a part back to the raw materials used in the manufacture of an individual part.